π Welcome to another issue of The Enablement Edge newsletter!
In this one, weβre talking about:
- π¬ Piece of Research β State of Sales Enablement Maturity Report
- π 1 Key Trend β The enablement stack is converging
- π€ 1 Key Piece of Tech β 11 best sales intelligence tools
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π¬ Piece of Research
After months of work, I finally put together an industry report in collaboration with revenue acceleration partner revlogic on The State of Sales Enablement Maturity in 2026.β
It is based on 127 responses from enablement leaders who completed my enablement maturity assessment.
As with any assessment-based research, I would not treat it as a perfect benchmark.
But it does give us a useful directional view of where enablement teams seem to be today.
Most teams are no longer operating in pure reaction mode.
But they are not exactly running adaptive, deeply embedded enablement systems either.
The largest group sits in the organised stage, which suggests many teams have moved beyond random acts of enablement. There is more structure, clearer ownership, better routines, and more defined services.
But once you look across the seven components, the picture gets more interesting.
Maturity is uneven.
The areas that enablement can shape more directly appear to be further ahead. Operations, content, and sales process often lend themselves to clearer design: you can define workflows, create governance, document expectations, build assets, and introduce more consistent routines.
The harder areas are the ones that depend on behaviour change across the wider go-to-market system.
Coaching depends on managers making time, using a consistent approach, giving useful feedback, and reinforcing change over time.
Technology depends on deeper integration, workflow fit, training and coaching support, as well as measurement.
Cross-functional collaboration depends on shared priorities, regular communication, clear decision rights, and a way to resolve issues when teams naturally pull in different directions.
That is why the organised stage is so interesting.
It can look mature from the outside, but once you look closer, some parts of the system may still be fragile and constraining the rest.
Strong training services might sit next to inconsistent coaching.
A decent content library might still be difficult for reps to use when they actually need it.
A documented sales process and methodology might exist, but managers may not be coaching to it.
A tech stack might look solid on paper, while adoption remains patchy because the workflow hasnβt been designed around how sellers actually work.
So perhaps the better question is not:
βAre we mature?β
But:
βWhere are we genuinely embedded, and where are we simply more organised than before?β
Many enablement teams have already built structure, but the next challenge is making that structure stick through reinforcement, workflow integration, measurement, manager ownership, and cross-functional alignment.
Looking more closely at the seven enablement components often reveals where those gaps still exist.
Here is a preview of some of the findings from the report:
πΉ 38% of respondents still sit in the random stage for coaching maturity, the weakest area across all seven dimensions.
πΉ Only 5% of organisations report having an integrated AI strategy connected to core sales workflows.
πΉ 47% of respondents say training impact is measured only occasionally or not at all.
πΉ Just 11% report strong cross-functional alignment supported by shared goals and regularly reviewed metrics.
πΉ Content services showed one of the strongest scalable profiles, with 35% of respondents reaching the scalable stage.
πΉ 37% of organisations do not track enablement tool usage at all after rollout.
πYou can download the full report hereβ
See how the Enablement Edge operating system works in practice
Design, execute, and refine enablement initiatives faster using a structured operating system β combining diagnostics, practitioner intelligence, execution-ready assets, and a peer network.
Attendees will also receive a 7-day free access to explore the operating system directly.
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π Key Trend
One of the most interesting shifts in enablement tech right now is that the category is starting to collapse into itself.
The old boundaries are fading.
What used to be separate layers:
β content management
β training
β coaching
β knowledge management
β conversation intelligence
β buyer engagement
β¦are increasingly being bundled into broader enablement platforms.
At the same time, adjacent categories are moving toward enablement from the other direction.
π· Conversation intelligence tools are adding coaching and guidance.
π· Sales engagement platforms are adding enablement layers.
π· Knowledge platforms are pushing deeper into workflow support and AI answers.
The overlap is becoming significant, even if each category still has a different centre of gravity.
At the same time, thereβs another important shift happening where enablement is moving away from the hub.
For years, many enablement models depended on reps actively going to a central hub to search for content, complete training, or prepare for deals.
As we know, such a model tends to create friction.
Now weβre seeing more platforms move toward in-workflow enablement:
β guidance inside CRM
β recommendations inside calendar, email, or Slack/Teams
β coaching prompts during workflows
β contextual answers during live selling
The enablement experience starts showing up where sellers already work instead of asking them to leave their workflow.
And this has some important implications.
If guidance, recommendations, and next-best actions are increasingly delivered by AI inside seller workflows, then enablement is no longer only about enabling the seller directly.
Most importantly, it becomes about enabling the systems that support the seller and managers.
Those systems need a strong foundation to work from:
β trusted content
β clear messaging
β defined sales process
β contextual knowledge
β role-specific guidance
β clean data and signals
Without that foundation, AI does not fix the enablement problem; it simply distributes inconsistent guidance faster.
So part of the future of enablement lies with better enablement intelligence, maintained well enough for both people and AI workflows to use.
What do you think about this?
Are you finding more value in consolidating enablement into broader platforms, or in combining specialised tools around specific workflows?
π€ Piece of Tech
Iβve just published a detailed buyerβs guide to the best sales intelligence software in 2026, and one idea kept following me through the whole evaluation.
The right choice of a sales intelligence tool depends less on who has the biggest database and more on your sales motion, your target market, your compliance needs, and how your reps actually prospect day to day.
Just as importantly, some foundations need to be in place before any data provider can create meaningful value.
If you lack clarity on your ICP, target market, buying signals, or prospecting workflows, selecting the right provider becomes much harder. And no amount of data will fix a weak go-to-market strategy or pipeline problem on its own.
In the guide, I review the following shortlisted solutions:
- ZoomInfo
- Cognism
- Apollo.io
- Lusha
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator
- UpLead
- Prospeo
- RocketReach
- SalesIntel
- D&B Hoovers
- Leadfeeder
For each platform, I break down its positioning, strengths, limitations, pricing approach, and best-fit scenarios.
The mistake many teams make is trying to identify the single βbestβ tool in absolute terms.
A better approach is to identify the platform that will:
- Provide the data your sales motion actually requires
- Support the behaviours and workflows you want to drive
- Deliver the right information at the moments your team needs it
My advice is simple: test each solution against your actual ICP, target regions, buyer personas, prospecting workflows, and existing technology stack.
If youβre currently evaluating sales intelligence software, the guide should give you everything you need to build a shortlist and make a more informed decision.
See how the Enablement Edge operating system works in practice
Design, execute, and refine enablement initiatives faster using a structured operating system β combining diagnostics, practitioner intelligence, execution-ready assets, and a peer network.
Attendees will also receive a 7-day free access to explore the operating system directly.
ποΈ SIGN UP FOR THE WALKTHROUGH
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